This morning I chimed in on Google’s new public DNS service since then it looks like Techmeme has been alight with discussion about it, and not all of it completely positive. I posed that Google could decide to wield control over how people get to sites, but maybe that isn’t the biggest concern, maybe the concern is that Google could use the data it gathers about sites to create a hierarchy of which sites are “better” than others or just feeding Google more and more data on how to push ads to us.
I think David Ulevitch’s post on the OpenDNS blog is very insightful (and balanced considering the obvious bias):
So how will this impact us? It’s too early to tell, but largely I think this is a good thing for us. Google DNS currently offers none of the choice and flexibility that our service does. It’s new and untested. Having said that, it encourages us to keep making our service better. And ultimately, we’re a business that has been growing aggressively since we launched and has been competing in fair markets and winning. It raises awareness about the importance of DNS and it motivates us to continue providing world-class services to a global audience and to keep innovating.
Yes, OpenDNS is a business and is drawing revenue from subscriptions, but maybe there is something to worry about Google, or OpenDNS for that matter, providing this service. Is it just a fact of how much the Internet has grown that we need companies (or a segment of a very large company) to essentially manage a part of it?
While I have switched back to OpenDNS in my DNS settings and fully intend to keep them as such (in addition to having my routers always set to use them), I think it is worth just thinking about how dependent we are on the Internet and question if the public funding of the Internet is lacking somehow.
In the meantime, I appreciate how well OpenDNS works and the additional protections it provides.
Are you using an alternate DNS?
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Update: Gina Trapani posted on Smarterware about namebench through Google code to test nameservers for speed, etc. I have it downloaded and ready to install. The object is to determine how well nameservers work in comparison to each other.
Tris Hussey is a writer, teacher, blogger, and speaker on all facets of Internet life, WordPress, and social media. He is the author of Create Your Own Blog: 6 Easy Blogging Projects to Start Blogging Like a Pro and Using WordPress.
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“maybe the concern is that Google could use the data it gathers about sites to create a hierarchy of which sites are “better” than others or just feeding Google more and more data on how to push ads to us.”
I hope they do exactly that. Because they will either:
- provide better search results for me or:
- provide an ad to service that might actually be of valuable to users.
If those ads didn’t add value to users search experience, then advertisers wouldn’t pay to place them and users wouldn’t click on them.
Well I was getting as the sites that don’t meet Google’s criteria being pushed into an Internet backwater. Having your site delisted from Google and having it relisted is hard enough. What if they don’t like something that you have no control over?
All this said, all indications are that Google is going to keep following their “Don’t be evil” policy with Google DNS.